"I thought, you know what, they played three overtimes of hockey, physically and mentally, he was exhausted," said Darlene Shaw, who was born and raised in Belleville and whose husband Doug played junior hockey in the city.

Darlene Shaw, who attended Game 1 but didn't know her son had scored until a Hawks fan told her, said she was used to swearing.

"I have a husband who played hockey and sons who play hockey," she said. "I don't like it, but the soap went out the door years ago."

Breen also asked His Worship Mayor Neil R. Ellis of Belleville, Ont., about Shaw’s F-bomb; Ellis absolved him, saying that "playing at that caliber and that long, you're exhausted. It wasn't anything disrespectful."